#060: Bootstrapped To A $300M Exit, 2023 SaaS Trends, Expansion Is Hyper Critical Post $1M ARR

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Feb 19, 2024

FareHarbor: vSaaS for Boat Operators.

This guy bootstrapped a bookings business from $0 to $50M+ in revenue while living in Hawaii. He sold it for $300M and kept it all, as he never raised any venture capital. This is the amazing story of FareHarbor:

Lawrence Hester started his career as an equity trader at Credit Suisse, but soon realized he was not building any skills or passion. He quit his job and moved to Boston where he experimented with different ideas, from gourmet croutons to fertility biotech.

His brother, Zach, was living in Hawaii and he decided to join him there.Zach had an idea for digitizing the bookings, scheduling, and payments of tourism and activity companies - think boat tours, snorkeling experiences, hikes, etc. So they decided to test it out.

They sold their first customer without a product. They hacked something together quickly using WordPress, Stripe, and Google Calendar to create a version one. Over the next year, They signed 25 Hawaii-based clients including horse-back rides and parasailing guides.

As they scaled, they did many things differently from their competitors, such as:

#1. Providing turnkey onboarding to clients

Tour operators didn't have the time to build their own websites. Instead of giving them software to do it, they just built it for them.

#2. Charging a 6% booking fee to the end user, instead of a per-seat fee

The competition at the time was charging a typical monthly SaaS fee. They went against the grain, and the tour operators liked not having to pay for anything unless money was coming in.

#3. Hiring and promoting mostly fresh graduates

They paid them a small base salary but half the first year bookings for the operators they signed. It was great money. These hungry grads would post up in geos until they signed up as many local operators as possible.

Their unique value proposition and hustle helped them land and grow accounts rapidly. They also leveraged the network effect of concierge desks and affiliates to surround the tour operators with demand. Helping your customers get customers = a no brainer solution.

Bootstrapping the company for over 5 years, running on a shoestring budget and facing constant stress, they had to be creative and flexible with their decisions.They never had a board or quarterly meetings. They focused on doing the best they could every day.

Eventually, they were doing $50M+ in revenue and became the market leader. They decided sold the company for $300M to Booking.com

In an interview with @tidemarkcap Lawrence Hester shared some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, such as:

Follow your passion, not a spreadsheet.
Do things that are not scalable, especially in the early days.
Hire people who share your energy and compensate them well.

Lawrence and Zach are an inspiration for anyone who wants to build a successful bootstrapped SaaS company. They did it with passion, hustle, and creativity and boy did it pay off, with an amazing exit.

Cheers to the FareHarbor team. What a ride it must have been!